ANDREW BIRD: Orpheo Looks Back - a review from David Weber

19/11/2012 , 7:06 PM by Leonie Harris

ANDREW BIRD—Orpheo Looks Back

Review by David Weber

Andrew Bird’s album Break It Yourself is one of the best LPs of 2012. A real grower, it’s an album that creeps up on you with every listen. In a year that’s seen brilliant albums released by other ‘Americana’ influenced artists like Father John Misty and M. Ward, Bird soars.

Hailing originally from Chicago, and inspired by classical music, Bird was trained in violin and released his first album in 1996, when he was in his mid-twenties. It sported his violin skills, was called Music Of Hair and would bear little similarity to what he would record later. Listening to all of Bird’s albums virtually provides a quality education in American musical forms.

He worked with Squirrel Nut Zippers in the late 1990s, before leading his own band Bowl Of Fire. This music harked back to pre-war jazz and swing. At this time, Bird was also playing with Kevin O’Donnells Quality Six. Then Bowl Of Fire switched to rock, and even a zydeco influence.

But for all of Bowl Of Fire’s chops, they couldn’t break through to a large enough audience and band members drifted away. Andrew Bird stripped back his sound to incorporate greater folk leanings, and launched a solo career. By 2007, his profile was high enough, and his music good enough, that Armchair Apocrypha went gold in The United States. Bird’s music was reaching into a variety of interesting corners of the public consciousness, from National Public Radio live broadcasts to licensing for Marriott! Two years later, Noble Beast was the recipient of strong critical acclaim.

By now, Bird’s list of credits included everything from Kristin Hersh, Neko Case, and Bonnie Prince Billy to The Muppets. His first LP for the label Mom+Pop was a soundtrack for the film Norman. In 2012, Break It Yourself made the Top Ten in The United States, his highest placing yet.

The album includes shades of Van Morrison’s classic album Astral Weeks, propped with thick sticks of folk music, occasionally jazzy rhythms and even Brazilian music. The music on the LP unfolds organically, and gets under the skin unexpectedly. Perfect listening for late Saturday mornings, Sunday afternoons or Wednesday morning, starting at about 0500.

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